Heat affected stones:

All around 70mm in size.

Three of these possessed classic features of heat affected stones with reddish or pinkish patches, a crazed pattern on the surface and irregular, crazed fractures. The other, possibly some type of sandstone, did not display the characteristic crazed surface but did have extensive patches of reddening and fairly irregular fractures, suggesting that it should certainly be included with the others. Heat affected stones and FCP are used interchangeably within this report.

Fire cracked pebbles usually arise from cooking activities, being heated in fire then placed into containers (often clay lined pits) containing water, in order to boil the water. The thermal shock causes the fragmentation of the pebbles. No spreads of ashy material were seen on the field surface or adhering to the FCPs and the concentration of FCPs was low, suggesting the site was probably not the location of a burnt mound. The FCPs are therefore most likely to relate to cooking activity at this location at some point in time.


Flint:

The core is a multi-platform flake core in a translucent black flint with smooth, water worn cortex surviving on two sides. Evidence of hard hammer working from at least three different, successive, platforms is present. No traces of abrasion or other platform preparation techniques are evident. The knapped surfaces are uncorticated.

The type and size of the raw material is typical of flint nodules readily available in the gravels of the Trent Valley, while the working would not be at all out of place in a late Neolithic or early Bronze Age assemblage.


No ceramic material of any antiquity (post medieval or earlier) was spotted.

David Budge, 2010, Casual Find of Later Prehistoric Material at Gringley Carr (Unpublished document). SNT5761.